Should You Give Up Carbs?

The claim: If you’re at risk for heart disease then maybe its time to kick carbs to the food curb. A meta-analysis published in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases reports that low-carb diets—less than 45% of calories come from carbohydrates—don’t just help you lose weight, but they also lower your risk of cardiovascular disease.

The research: Tulane University epidemiologists reviewed 47 years of epidemiological studies that compared the effects of low-carb diets to their low-fat (less than 30% of calories come from fat) counterparts on weight reduction and cardiovascular risk. And as it turns out, they’re pretty similar. Both diets can help you lose weight, though the low-carb diet may have a slight advantage when it comes to changing your body composition and weight circumference for the better—in other words, you may lose more belly fat on a low-carb diet.

What it means: Low-fat diets may lose their reign as the king of heart healthy eating plans. In the past, low-carb diets weren't recommended for those at risk for heart disease because the thought was that eating low-carb would mean people would up their intake of saturated fats. But thanks to recent research in the Annals of Internal Medicine, which broke the link between the type of fat consumed and heart disease, researchers say dietary interventions for heart disease need to be rethought.

The bottom line: "It's not so much a matter of low carb but choosing a smart carb diet," says registered dietician Tiffani Buchus, who is the co-author of No Excuses! 50 Healthy Ways to ROCK Breakfast! She explains: Your carbohydrates should come from vegetables, beans, legumes, fruit, quinoa, amaranth, and the rest of the diet should be comprised of healthy proteins, such as soy, wild-caught salmon and sardines, and healthy fats, such as nuts, seeds, olive oil, and avocado.